View Emonet XII Paper Presentation “The what and how of positive feedback: A review and experimental study of positive feedback ‘best-practices’” by Svetieva & Lopes (2020) now.

Live Paper Discussion Session Time: Wednesday, 8th July 2020, UTC 04:00
Zoom Meeting ID: 933 0925 5427

Authors: 

Elena Svetieva, University of Colorado Springs, United States
Paulo Lopes, Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Portugal

Abstract: 

In the present study, we review the purported benefits and effects of positive feedback and specifically examine the recommendation that leaders should give more positive feedback that is specific and mindful of nonverbal delivery (e.g. Porath, 2016). We measure the affective benefits of positive feedback through a naturalistic interaction study where designated ‘leaders’ interacted with a ‘subordinate’ in an idea generation and evaluation paradigm. Leaders (n = 90) received brief training in delivering positive feedback, and their subsequent feedback behavior during an interaction with a subordinate was coded by trained research assistants. The design of the study allowed us to identify the leader positive feedback behaviors that had the most impact on subordinates in terms of positive affect, perceptions of the leader, and subsequent task effort. Neither verbal nor nonverbal components of leader positive affect during the interaction had a measurable impact on subordinate positive affect or motivation, though the frequency of leader positive feedback had significant positive impact on subordinate perceptions of the leader, and there was evidence of reciprocal effects of training on the leader. We discuss the implications of these effects for positive feedback theory and application.

Contact: 

Elena Svetieva, esvetiev@uccs.edu
Paulo Lopes, paulo.lopes@ucp.pt

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